Forcing the Hand of God

Yunnan Province, China, 1943 …

Two men wage an intellectual war over a timeworn chessboard, a metaphor for the conflict that rages in the skies above. The young, handsome army pilot seethes against the violent forces of a hostile world, angry that his bombs and bullets cannot vanquish the enemy who threatens all he values. His opponent, the older, world-wise man of the cloth, dispatched long ago to this dreary, distant outpost offers divine guidance: “You can’t force the hand of God.”